From U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,472, a method and an arrangement for controlling an internal combustion engine are known wherein a maximum permissible torque is formed for ensuring the operational reliability of the engine control. This maximum permissible torque is formed at least on the basis of the position of an operator-controlled element actuable by the driver. This maximum permissible torque is compared to an actual torque of the engine. If the actual torque exceeds the maximum permissible torque, then it is assumed that there is a defective function of the control and measures are initiated to react to the fault until the actual torque again drops under the maximum permissible torque. This torque monitoring is greatly dependent upon the quality of the detection of the actual torque. To improve the monitoring of the control of the engine, there was a supplement made in U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,644 in that this torque monitoring is switched off in specific operating situations. In this case, the fuel metering is cut off if the engine rpm exceeds a pregiven engine rpm for a specific position of the accelerator pedal.
In addition, an rpm limiter is presented in the published German patent application 199 13 272 wherein the engine rpm is limited to a pregiven monitoring rpm. This limiting is especially active when the accelerator pedal is not depressed. For active limiters, adaptations are necessary in at least some applications with respect to the performance of the limiter or with respect to the driving comfort.
An example is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,178 as to how a desired torque value is converted into control variables for influencing the charge of the engine, the ignition angle and/or into a number of cylinders to be suppressed.